Droids XL Attack... Apple's "Big Dilemma"

Google Android ascention continues accounting for three out of four smartphones shipped in Q1 (Jan-Mar), says analysts Canalys. (It also accounted for 60% of all 'smart' devices - tabs, phones and notebooks, compared to Apple 19% and Microsoft 18%).

Samsung is the confirmed top dog of mobile with one third market share and volumes up a massive 64% in a year - in contrast to former leader, Apple whose growth slowed to just 6% - its lowest level since the launch of the iPhone in 2007.

'Despite its slowing growth, Apple still shipped over 37 million iPhones,' said Pete Cunningham, Canalys Principal Analyst, warning of Cupertino's big dilemma - what to do with the size of the next iPhone display.

Size matters

"The iPhone user interface is now six years old and badly in need of a refresh. It cannot afford to ignore the trend for larger displays in premium smart phones.

'HTC and Samsung have raised the bar with their latest handsets and Apple needs to respond with its next iPhone," he cautioned.

The analysts predict iPhone 5's 4" display will expand but are not anticipating a "Phablet"-style iPhone'

Smartphones show no sign of fading in popularity - growing 48% this quarter to 216 million.

Chinese are coming

But its not just leaders Samsung that Apple has to contend with in the phone race.

The two phone leaders are also facing threat from Chinese phone makers - Huawei and ZTE made it into the top five smart phone vendors, although still have less than 5% share a piece - dominating in their home markets mainly.

Huawei CEO has made no secret of its plans for domination here in OZ and NZ.

LG too made it into the top 5 "thanks to an overdue increased focus on its smart phone business at the expense of its feature phone business."